So - in summary:

At the moment we’re protecting intensive care capacity. With infection rates still relatively low there’s insufficient evidence to determine exactly what the impact of the delta variant will be. We’ve got plenty of evidence from last year of what happens when infection rates start to rise at the rate we’re seeing and what that might mean in terms of NHS pressures in the weeks and months ahead, but we’re still not quite sure how the delta variant’s increased R rate and increased likelihood of hospitalisation vs the impact of the vaccine programme might affect that. Which is why we’re seeing a bit of caution from the govt and scientific community.

We might have vaccinated 90% of the over 60s but the remaining 10% is still a sizeable number if they all rock up in intensive care in the space of a few weeks. And if all those beds are are occupied we’d be in a position of only being able to treat those with the best chance of survival (just as an aside, there’s a good book by a couple of Times journalists, Failures of State, that’s worth a read which hints that there were a few instances of that kind of triaging actually happening in UK hospitals last year). And from there it’s not too big a step to BBC news being full of footage of patients dying in coridoors and car parks (and I think even this lot in No 10 with their 80 seat majority know that’d be likely to finish them off).

For what it’s worth, I think the govt will go ahead with the 21st June - we haven’t yet seen any real uptick in hospitalisations nationally. The next couple of weeks will be the key ones though.

I agree with all the comments about govt communications though; we’ve had 18 months of infections rising - restrictions - lockdown - infections fall - unlock - rinse and repeat, and their comms have always been a variation on ‘we just need to pull together to get through this crisis’, which people largely do, only to find ourselves having to do it again a few months later. Pandemics usually go in two year cycles before fizzling out a bit, largely cos everyone’s had it/died/been vaccinated by then, so they’d have been much better saying from the start - it’s gonna be ***** for a while yet. At least people know where they stand then.

 

That's the thing, you can have a dislike for parties and individuals but they're not wrong and evil all the time.
Unfortunately for us we've got a cabinet full of inept characters that are one or the other. Its the perfect storm, I don't like the Tory party (understatement of the year) but the MPs Boris sacked off weren't all rabid right wingers. They were centrist, can't imagine Dominic Greive making the same mistakes over and over. Or lying and abusing the legal system daily.

 

More U18s die in RTAs than of Covid.

Is that acceptable?

 

No, but it is avoidable; as are covid deaths if managed correctly.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/30/mut...t-covid-vaccines-ineffective-soon-survey.html

I'm going to guess this seems to be the current issue at hand . Obviously the more COVID mutates the less effective the current vaccines become . The current strains become nothing more than long lost cousins . Should the Indian strain multiply over here then morph into something else then we could be back to square one . Maybe it's time for our government to own up and admit that the much vaunted vaccines are not the silver bullet that they have been portrayed as .

 

Frankly yes. It's a virus, it's nature. It's horrible but people die.
So many people have died BECAUSE we have tried fighting nature. So many lives cut short because we've tried fighting nature.

 

Zero covid deaths is impossible

We should start treating it like Flu

 

Have all viruses mutated at such a rate? I've done a fair bit of reading and can't say I've read anything like this happening before I such a sort space of time.

If it was man made and released by accident (hopefully), was it made as a research tool or was it weaponised (like things grown at Portondown)? Weaponised in that it's genetic make up, allows to mutant and not lose any of its potency and transmission capabilities. Most mutations adapt to being less deadly and damaging, a virus needs an endless supply of hosts. The Delta form is now the 4th major strain in less than 18 months and seems to be more potent than the Alpha Kent variant.

I know it may sound a bit tin foil hatted but I do find it strange.

 

Are RTA deaths mitigated at all? Have we not spent billions of ££s making cars safer, enacting laws to save lives and on education campaigns?

People talk about Covid as if it’s the only risk that’s ever been reduced by a government.

Do I think the government have done a good job? Have they hell, but they had to do ‘something’ and I’m yet to see an anti lock downer come up with an evidence based plan that would have been better than even this shambles of a government.

 

No!
Too many people have died because we made a right mess of it.
Plenty of countries have done it better, and they didn’t do that by ‘not’ fighting it.

We’ve eradicated (or close to) plenty of virus’ over the last 100 years, let’s not pretend that’s not the case.

 

Variants are so overblown.

The rona isnt gonna turn into ebola on speed.

 

We've eradicated one isn't it? Possibly two but I think one. Let's not pretend THAT isn't the case

 

I think they will have their own prime time show like morcambe and wise.

 

I don't regard Carl Vernon as a member of the human race anyway. Unless it's a race to the bottom.
I think half of Brits probably do want this to be the last lock down and are willing to wait another few weeks to make sure we don't have another full lock down.
My question to everyone who insists on stopping all lockdowns/restrictions immediately on the 21st of June is; Would you do that if you knew we were going to have to have another lockdown at Christmas? We might not be able to have it both ways.

 

So what we do according to you is wait till one is 100% effective is that the answer then

 

I'm sorry but this is in no way "lockdown". You can say there have been some things taken away from you and people have been encouraged (largely) to act with caution around people. But the last phase allowed people to do allsorts of things. I drove down Edgware road yesterday. There were people, eating, drinking, food shopping, clothes shopping, wandering. Two people did a high five as they walked past each other. I then rounded Marble Arch and caught a glimpse of the bottom of Oxford Street, where there were plenty of people roaming, then onto Park Lane. Hyde Park was rammed. From Barnsley to London the roads were heaving.

You can holiday in the UK, granted but ideally not overseas, though there seem to be plenty of flights judging by air traffic overhead.

You can meet people indoors. In pubs. In restaurants. You can meet even more outside.

Let's not pretend we're suddenly back in March 2020, because we're not even close.

 

This is so true